Electronic kiosks are devices which consist of two groups of parts, namely (1) electronic hardware components and (2) a housing for the components.
With respect to the hardware, the programmability of digital computers means that a system consisting of a monitor, with a pointing device such as a touchscreen or a touch pad and/or keyboard, and a computer (CPU), can perform a variety of functions. If the basic system is expanded by adding a printer, camera, speakers, a microphone, card readers, or other peripherals, and is connected to remote information sources by wire or wireless means, it can perform a wider variety of tasks, including e-mail, videoconferencing and database access.
The purpose of the kiosk housing is to prevent access or damage to fragile components, to draw attention to the device, and to protect sensitive components from environmental elements, thereby making it feasible to provide the equipment contained therein to the public for their use in an unsupervised setting. Access to the internal components of the housing is necessary to provide maintenance and to replenish consumable supplies, such as paper. Thus, protection of the hardware components must be ensured, while allowing access to the housing for servicing.
Kiosks are designed for specific uses. The housing is provided with mountings for the required internal components, fascia for the projection of devices such as monitors, and apertures for the introduction and removal of credit cards or the issue of printed material or cash.
Some kiosks currently available and others as described in patents may have certain modular aspects. U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,166 to Lee describes a collection of kiosks for multiple users, each kiosk designed so that they may be connected to other kiosks in an octagon-like structure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,071 to Bernstein et al. depicts a kiosk containing a computer arrangement, with the video display, CPU, keyboard and mouse connected by wiring.
A limitation of the prior art kiosks is that the selection of components utilized within the kiosk must be defined prior to design and fabrication of the kiosk housing. Furthermore, once the kiosk housing has been fabricated, it is not possible to change the selection of components or the relative size and shape of components without rebuilding or significantly altering the housing by cutting, grinding or re-machining. It is expensive and time consuming to design and build kiosks due to the need to create a new design for the kiosk housing each time a new set of hardware components or functions are required.
Another limitation of kiosks of the prior art is the inaccessibility of the internal hardware components for servicing. It is desirable that kiosks, which are normally located in busy areas, are as compact as possible. However, positioning a number of hardware components in a compact enclosure creates problems for servicing. U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,065 to Ramachandran et al. teaches one means to address this problem, using a service door on the kiosk and a rollout tray containing some of the serviceable components.